Two year eye check

Talia and I were at PMH this week for a check with the opthalmologist.

Our last visit was a year ago, and I was a bit concerned about how she would react this time as a year ago she was a lot more placid! Fortunately it all went pretty smoothly.

Firstly a doctor held up some cards for her to look at, checking that she looked in the direction of the picture on each card (some with picture at the top, some at the bottom), using both eyes equally. The pictures were line drawings on a grey background, and at first they were thick lines and easy to see, but at the end they were very fine lines that were difficult to distinguish from the background. There was also a very groovy plastic card with 3-D pictures on a speckly grey background that you can only see using both eyes (I tried it myself, the pictures completely vanish if you cover one eye).

Next she had eyedrops put in - and you would be impressed with the strength of Talia’s eyelid muscles! She really tried very hard to keep her eyes shut. So that was a bit traumatic but I had been expecting it.

Last, after her eyes dilated, the opthalmologist did the checks using a little torch and looking through lenses held just in front of her eyes. I was expecting this part to be a total nightmare, but the doctor was a man with lots of toddler experience - he turned it into a game of peek-a-boo. So after a few initial squawks, she decided the whole thing was great fun and happily co-operated.

So… after all that, the verdict is: her eyes are currently exhibiting normal vision. This sounds great, but actually at Talia’s age they expect children to be slightly long-sighted, as she was at her one year check. So it looks like she has already started her journey to short-sightedness. (I knew it would happen, both my husband and I and all our parents are short-sighted, but I had kind of hoped it might take a little longer to become evident.)

Talia’s next eye appointment will be in 9 months time.